LIGHTNING 5, FLYERS 4: Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Cory Stillman and Martin St. Louis get on the board in an overtime victory.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published December 19, 2003
PHILADELPHIA - It was just one game. Lightning coach John Tortorella will hammer that into his players' heads.
It wasn't even a very artistic game, what with its grinding demeanor, the fighting and Tampa Bay's need for a comeback after blowing a two-goal lead late in the second period.
But considering the freefall in which the team recently found itself, Thursday night's 5-4 overtime victory over the Flyers at the Wachovia Center was a thing of beauty.
"It was a big character win," right wing Martin St. Louis said.
Said captain Dave Andreychuk: "I believe this is a game we will look back on and know we can win in a tough building."
The toughest. Even with the loss, Philadelphia is the league's best home team with 27 points and a 12-2-2-1 record. And the Flyers, with 44 points, entered as the No. 1 team in the league.
Who would have guessed it was the perfect setup for the Lightning to break a four-game losing streak and for its biggest scorers to finally, finally, break out?
St. Louis scored twice. He tied it at 4 with 8:02 left in the third and won it 2:03 into overtime.
Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Cory Stillman also scored to break long droughts.
Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin needs to work on his puck-handling as he gave away two goals with misplays. But he was otherwise strong with 37 saves for his second victory in 12 decisions against the Flyers (2-10-0).
And how about Andre Roy and Chris Dingman who fought Donald Brashear and Jim Vandermeer, respectively, in the game's first 16 seconds to set an undeniable tone?
"That's the team I thought we saw earlier in the year and quite a bit of last year," Tortorella said. "We made mistakes and it was ugly by both teams. But that's the way we won last year."
A few more notables before getting to the nitty-gritty.
The Lightning is 3-8-2 in its past 13. But it had just 18 goals in its past 12 and the five against the Flyers were the most since Tampa Bay got five Nov.14 against the Capitals. The Lightning also had two power-play goals in a game for the first time since Oct. 30 against the Sharks to slow an 8-for-93 skid.
Lecavalier's power-play goal was his 11th but first in eight games. Richards' goal was his fourth and first in 14 games as was Stillman's 11th.
"Our support guys were there, too, but what kicks in tonight is some of our better players did some good things at important times," Tortorella said.
One of its best players did a couple of bad things during a 9:01 stretch that began with 52.8 seconds left in the second and ended 8:08 into the third with four Flyers goals.
Tony Amonte scored 21 seconds after Richards to make it 2-1. Mark Recchi scored 19seconds into the third into an open net to tie at 2 thanks to Khabibulin's terrible giveaway behind the goal line.
Stillman made it 3-2 at 5:08, but Michal Handzus tied it 15 seconds later on his own rebound of a wraparound attempt. Jeremy Roenick made it 4-3 at 8:08 after Khabibulin's backhand pass behind the net handcuffed defenseman Cory Sarich and bounced to Roenick for an easy goal.
"It's an amazing thing," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The game never really changes. It's all about what you give up."
Or for the Lightning, what you take in overtime. Stillman outfought two Flyers for the puck along the center-ice boards and sent a chip pass to Andreychuk who passed cross-ice to St. Louis.
The right wing scored his eighth but only his second in 15 games.
"We were up, we were down, we won it in overtime," St. Louis said. "It's nice to push and get some results."
"To start a streak or start feeling good about yourself, you have to win, so this is one. Hopefully we can build on it," Tortorella said. "But it is just one game."
